Scanner Recommendation? VHF-AM

[vdubjim]

Wanting a scanner for listening to local cops and fire, Oklahoma city. 154.37 and a bunch of 460's.
AND
aircraft stuff, vhf-am, 120.45, 121.8, 305.6

Anything extra would be a bonus. Oklahoma County, Oklahoma (OK) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Don't need handheld, so mobile or base is fine. I don't need anything special, so a older model that does what I need is fine without bells and whistles is ok with me. I was looking here: Radio Scanner Guide - Category 6: Continuous Coverage Scanners
but not sure how up to date it is or if anything else works, not on the list.

 

[Dog]

OKC has a EDACS ProVoice system. Not many scanners will work, a couple have a paid firmware upgrade that you can buy to listen.

OKC System Link


A lot of the state is on the OKWIN system. It is a Motorola Type II SmartZone Analog and APCO-25

OKWIN -- Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network

I use SDR to listen to both of those systems plus Tinker which is a Project 25 Phase I system in the 400 mhz range.

United States Air Force

Any scanner that you can buy to listen to these systems is going to be very expensive (Expensive is relative but probably close to $400).

If just want to listen to Oklahoma County sheriffs office and aircraft all you need is a Uniden BC125AT. It has air and mil air bands. No 800 mhz.

 

[lu81fitter]

If you are looking for a radio to use as a base radio, the Uniden BCT15X is a very solid unit. It should cover the bands you are wanting, along with the trunking. However, it is NOT digital. I have one and it performs very well for all of my analog monitoring -- conventional and trunked.

 

[milcom_chaser]

Well now that Uniden has released DMR and ProVoice upgrades for their BCD 325P2 (handheld), and 996P2 (Base/Mobile) you may have all your listening options covered: P-25, ProVoice, Civilian and Military aircraft. Bingo.

 

[milcom_chaser]

OKC has a EDACS ProVoice system. Not many scanners will work, a couple have a paid firmware upgrade that you can buy to listen.

OKC System Link


A lot of the state is on the OKWIN system. It is a Motorola Type II SmartZone Analog and APCO-25

OKWIN -- Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network

I use SDR to listen to both of those systems plus Tinker which is a Project 25 Phase I system in the 400 mhz range.

United States Air Force

Any scanner that you can buy to listen to these systems is going to be very expensive (Expensive is relative but probably close to $400).

If just want to listen to Oklahoma County sheriffs office and aircraft all you need is a Uniden BC125AT. It has air and mil air bands. No 800 mhz.

Actually, the BC125AT has the upper end of the 225-400 Mil-Band Removed - The last 20Mhz.
Page 13 from the manual: 225.0000 - 380.0000 AM...

The 325P2 and 996P2 do not.

 

[vdubjim]

I had this big reply written, then saw the answer to my question at the bottom of all that stuff you wrote.

The BC125AT, does seem to be a great value. I saw another post suggesting the pro-90.

When you say mil-band removed. If I wanted to get 305.6 is that considered mil band? Or just UHF?

 

[vdubjim]

Oh, also I saw a post about some older radios defaulting to vhf-fm, is this a common thing?

 

[Dog]

I had this big reply written, then saw the answer to my question at the bottom of all that stuff you wrote.

The BC125AT, does seem to be a great value. I saw another post suggesting the pro-90.

When you say mil-band removed. If I wanted to get 305.6 is that considered mil band? Or just UHF?

The Mil-Air band is from 225 to 400. The BC125AT only covers 225 - 380. You 305.6 falls into this range.

Here is a list of scanners old and new that cover the Mil-Air band.

Milcom Receiving Equipment - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[vdubjim]

cool thanks for the info.

amazon open box $66.

 

[Dog]

cool thanks for the info.

amazon open box $66.

I would pick up one of these if you can afford it also. (That is what I did. Open box BC125AT and that antenna from Amazon.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M1X73EA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When you want to listen to the trunked stuff look into SDR. $40 - $60 and a computer you can listen to a lot more stuff.

 

[vdubjim]

I would pick up one of these if you can afford it also. (That is what I did. Open box BC125AT and that antenna from Amazon.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M1X73EA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When you want to listen to the trunked stuff look into SDR. $40 - $60 and a computer you can listen to a lot more stuff.

thanks.
I guess it helps greatly? the reviews def are positive,

 

[jbantennaman]

VHF AM - only the air band still uses AM and even it isn't common anymore. My FM Uniden BC890XLT receives all the local air traffic on the FM portion of the receiver.
Regardless of what you buy, unless it is an all digital receiver, but 2024 it will be obsolete for everything but amateur radio and maybe the fire service, since volunteer fire departments makes up the bulk of fire services in the USA and volunteer fire departments cannot afford to purchase digital receivers for each and every volunteer fireman. The programmable scanner is still the biggest bang for the buck for those people. If the government was to try to force everyone to go digital, it would probably force some of them to close their doors. Or so it was related to me by a friend of mine that worked in the two way radio business for 40 years!

 

[jbantennaman]

When all of the state police stuff goes up into the 700 Mhz - First Net - that Mr. Sammy Obamme proposed, even your present digital scanner will probably be rendered unusable unless you have the proprietary codes to unscramble the encrypted radio traffic.

Just think Pennsylvania and Open Sky.
The State of Pennsylvania spent about 1 Billion Dollars trying to perfect Open Sky, only to abandon it for P25 - that wouldn't have cost them much of anything to build out or maintain.
And yet the world hasn't learned by Pennsylvania's mistakes...

In an open space, WIFI might work just fine, but when you try to do it in the mountains, where you have to put an antenna on a telephone pole every 2 miles to make it work, it quickly becomes too expensive to build and maintain. And when you learn that if you want to bypass Open Sky, all you have to do is Speed in an area where they have no coverage - aka - the bottom of a hill where there is no service.

A radio system that only works a part of the time, is not the type of radio you need when you have mission critical communications that needs to be 100% reliable!

 

[kayn1n32008]

VHF AM - only the air band still uses AM and even it isn't common anymore.

AM for aircraft comms is not going away any time soon, and is VERY common.

My FM Uniden BC890XLT receives all the local air traffic on the FM portion of the receiver.

An FM receiver will pick up an AM signal, but won't sound good.

Regardless of what you buy, unless it is an all digital receiver, but 2024 it will be obsolete for everything but amateur radio and maybe the fire service,

Care to share where you pulled that year out of?

While the trend is moving to digital, analogue is not going away yet.

...Probably force some of them to close their doors...

Those that refuse to adopt new technology will get left behind.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dog]

thanks.
I guess it helps greatly? the reviews def are positive,

Yes, it greatly improves the reception in the frequencies you will be using..